This invention relates to harvesting machines for grapes and the like.
Grape vines are generally grown on three types of trellis. The first is a vertical wire trellis which comprises a series of upright posts arranged in spaced apart relation in a row with wires extending between the uprights along the row. The second and third types of trellis comprise a series of upright posts arranged in spaced apart relation in a row each post including a generally horizontal cross arm thereon. Wires are attached at the end of each cross arm the wires extending along the row.
Mechanical harvesting machines for harvesting grapes grown on trellis of the type described above are known. One type of harvesting machine currently in use includes a machine which can utilize different types of picking heads which comprise a series of agitator rods and which are mounted so that as the machine travels along a row of vines, the agitator rods shake or beat the fruit or foliage or trellis to which the vines are grown so that the fruit will fall from the vines. Whilst mechanical harvesting machines have significantly increased the speed of harvesting, they suffer from several disadvantages. For example, known machines of this type find difficulty in removing all of the fruit particularly where the fruit on the vines grows near the inner area of the trellis. Furthermore, problems are encountered where the density of foliage varies along the row of vines. For example, where the density increases the agitator rods have more difficulty in operating in the required manner. The machine can also be susceptible to driver error, where the driver strays from the optimum line of travel along the row.
The picking heads currently in use have difficulty in being capable of efficiently removing grapes from all three trellis arrangements described above. It is often necessary to change the type of picking head to suit the trellis arrangement. This is time consuming and costly.
It is the object of the present invention to provide an improved harvester which alleviates one or more of the aforementioned disadvantages.